The Adventures of Chibi-Rita
by TurbotuffBecca
Summary: Follow Rita's childhood. How did she view the world? Just who is Kaji? How were her siblings as children? What exactly happened to her mother? OC warning. Also mentions of Atlantis... a lot.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Do not own Hetalia, just my Ocs.**

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A long time ago there used to be another Island in the Mediterranean Sea. Its inhabitants called it Ritan. The island was beautiful, and full of life and joy.

They were an athletic people enjoying the outdoors and sunshine. They particularly liked swimming and often there would be great explorers swimming out past the horizon and returning with tales of other places. It was enchanting to them that other people could be so different. But, because of these discoveries, the children were not allowed to swim. The adults often worried that, if the children knew how to swim, they would swim off past the horizon and never come back.

One day, the swimmers came back with tales of horror. The other civilizations had met and some were starting to take over their neighbors. The swimmers warned that some of them had these things they called boats, and it let the other civilizations travel long distances over water. This deeply upset the population, because previous to this invention, they were the only society they knew trained hard enough to swim the long distances.

As generations passed, the civilization they grew to fear the most were the Romans, led by a man named Rome. Rome never stopped until he was in control. Rome was scary.

The Ritans focused all their energy in protecting the Island, with extra precaution on the half that faced the heart of the Roman Empire.

Rome terrified everyone so much, that –in addition to the increase in defensive and combat training, which was scary in itself because they already were considered a warrior people, and the increase in agriculture, because that's a nice bonus to have- the people soon forgot the swimmers tales of other civilizations that the other half of the island faced.

They could not create new tales either, because it was deemed too dangerous for the swimmers to venture out again. But, they did keep up that training at least.

In the midst of all this, one child was deeply affected. All the inhabitants knew was that she shared the same name as the island. No one knew who her parents were or where she came from. Ritan would sit by the shore of the island and watch for boats. It was especially peculiar because she couldn't have been more than two. Even though she was often alone, the inhabitants had a fondness for her, despite the fact that she never seemed to age.

The adults of the island had warriors -what they called fighters, and anyone trained as such-patrol the perimeter and they checked on her often.

Usually the warriors would try to convince Ritan to go off and play with the other children.

But she would always shake her head, say a variation of 'I can't', and stay at her self- designated post.

Day in and day out, she would always do this. The warriors took to caring for her. They would bring her meals and water, teach her defensive moves, one even gave her a saki*, but that was taken away by a concerned elder...

No one really remembers how long this went on.

Because the island sunk.

Ritan was actually the first to notice.

It was an ordinary day, and she saw the water getting closer, but high tide had already passed, so she ran for the assistance of a warrior, the one who just checked on her.

The water was rising faster and steadier now.

"We're sinking!" He shouted in words long forgotten**. He ran to warn the population.

Ritan was terrified as she tried to find high enough ground, because the children couldn't swim.

Then everything in Ritan's world went black.

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***It is the Atlantian word for knife. It is also presumed to be the Ritan (Forgotten Language) word for it.**

****The Ritan language it actually lost.**

**Yes, I have my own -as in made up- 'language' of Atlantis. The reason will become clear in later chapters. Please review, but no flames. I will take constructive critisism though. the second note will actually get clearer in the next chapter though**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclamer: I don't own hetalia.**

**A note, they are not speaking English, so all bold is what it would be if it were translated. Italic is thought. (A/Ns don't count...you can pretend though...)**

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Ritan came to with a feeling of dread. She shot up in her bed with a start and found herself in a very strange room. It appeared to be a large tent, only two beds inside. The larger of the two beds had a small girl lying in the middle, she appeared to be sleeping. She appeared clean and about the same size as Ritan. She was turned away so the only detail Ritan could see was that the girl had hair that looked like a really light brown or like a very dirty blonde.

With this, Ritan focused on her own state. She felt okay and seemed unharmed, but was confused. She couldn't remember why she woke with so much dread; then it hit her. The last thing she remembered was the island going down. Into the water, and she couldn't swim.

But that couldn't be right. She still felt very much alive; then again, she had also never been dead before.

With this, she decided to look around more, but before she could notice much, a tall, blonde lady walked in. The first thing Ritan noticed was that the door was behind the mystery woman. The second was her appearance.

She had on what appeared to be animal skin, brown with fur around her neck and arm holes. It seemed like it wasn't very thick, and probably wasn't meant for the cold. She had a belt around her waist that was a darker brown, only out done by her pants, and only by a shade. Her pants appeared to be a different fabric, but Ritan had no idea what it was. The lady also had on what looked like boots, but they were made of a scaly looking materiel. The lady was looking at Ritan with concern, with light violet eyes."

Then she spoke. Ritan had no idea what she said; it was in a language unknown to her. Ritan was about to voice as much, when she realized something important. She didn't know how, or at least, she couldn't remember. The lady seemed to realize something.

"**Ritan.**"

Ritan recognized that. She knew it was hers. She would have cried in joy if she still wasn't so scared. The lady spoke again.

"**Ritan is your name,**" the lady pointed to Ritan, then to herself, "**Tali is my name, Tali.**"

Then the lady gestured to the sleeping girl.

"**Atlanti is her name.**"

It clicked to Ritan; the lady was called Tali, and the girl, Atlanti.

"**Ritan, speak. Have words?**" Rita thought the words the lady spoke were funny. So she responded.

"**Ritan,**" she motioned to herself. Then she decided to copy the lady. "**Have words, is speak! Name a your her.**"

It was then Tali knew the child forgot her language. She had shared the same phrases she spoke with the island. Ritan was a branch of Atlantian after all, so Tali promised to herself that she would teach the young island Atlantian. She would have taught her Ritan too, but the older nation knew little very of it- only really enough to introduce her self.

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**Comments, questions, concerns? Please review. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Nope, not dead. Another name for this chapter could be Legend. **

**Bold is Atlantian, translated into English. Italics would be thought...but I didn't put any...**

**I do not own Hetalia, but I do own my OCs and their basic culture...unless its real and they are reading this in which case, sorry...until then, I lay claim.**

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Ritan grew to think of Tali as her mother, and Atlanti as her sister. It was new to her, because she never had a family before. Ritan loved them and was grateful for the second chance she had with them. She even added an 'a' to the end of her name, so Ritan became Ritana. Atlanti called her Rita anyways.

She learned a much from Tali, not just the Atlantian language (and a few others as well), but the culture, how to swim, and... how to breath.

This may seem strange, but it makes sense. Not everyone can switch what they breathe without choking. Ritana had to be coached on how to do it seamlessly. However, she couldn't practice until Poseidon gave her that gift. Since Gaia was the Earth, she also had to approve.

Ritana didn't have to worry about Gaia though, because she was the one who sent Tali and Atlanti. Basically, Gaia was sending Ritana into the ocean.

But Ritana knew none of this. Instead, she spent her days learning, and speaking with Tali.

One of the conversations had to do with Ritan's memories. Well, one about the legend of Atlantis. Because she was a Nata,* the memories Ritana retained modified so she could understand the words... it really freaked her out the first time it occurred.

The conversation went like this:

"**Is it true?**"

"**What?**" Tali asked the girl.

"**The legend of Atlantis, the Sunken City.**"

"**Somewhat, you see, a long time ago, a small but strong country sunk, well most of it-that was me-**"

"**It was you?**"

Ritana didn't know about Natas, nor that she was one. Tali kept it that way.

"**The Story is just easier to tell if you pretend that I'm the country.**"

"**Oh, okay.**"

"**So, I sunk. The part hadn't sunk was Atlanti. (The city was named water, prior to sinking; Ritana would get this, which is why Tali don't explain it.) It was a while, but Atlanti soon sunk as well. Years went by and people remembered this. One day, an elderly gentleman wandered on to a beach. People saw him come up from the water. This man could understand other languages a bit, and really couldn't speak any of them well. Someone asked him where he came from. He pretty much said 'from Talisa, in the water.' The people understood Atlantis, and the rest is history.**"

"**Is Talisa the name of where you live?**"

"**Yes.**"

"**Is your name Talisa?**"

"**Yes, but I prefer Tali.**"

Ritana had many other conversations like this. One was about her name. Another was about dragons, and how Tali really didn't trust them.

Eventually, the time came for Ritana to meet Poseidon, mostly because Gaia said so. She basically appeared and told Tali it was time to go home.

Tali went and got the water god and returned fairly quickly.

He spoke with Ritana, and Atlanti-but he spoke with Ritana alone at a point, and not with Atlanti. Then he had a quick word with Tali, after which, he told everyone he approved. Then he preformed magic on Ritana and left.

Ritana finally got to go home with her family, and one of the sweetest parts was that she didn't choke when she switched breaths.

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***Nata-it is the word I have created. It is a personification, not necessarily of an actual country. Sealand would be considered one, and so would any state personifications, but they are not actual nations by the definition of the word. Basically nata is just a term for the race of beings. 2ps would count for this too, they just are second players as well.**

**Questions or Comments? Please review them-reviews are welcome.**

**Twist right? Talisa is the name for the country where Atlantians reside...woo.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Look, I posted two chapters today!**

**disclaimer: See previous chapter.**

**The key didn't magically change...it didn't change any other way either...**

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Ritana loved her new life. She got to play all day with Atlanti, and had etiquette lessons with Tali, when she wasn't away of course.

Tali would always remind Ritana to keep her emotions in check. Ritana could never figure out why though...

Life was great, for a while at least.

Slowly though, Atlanti had more of her etiquette lessons, while Ritana had hers less and less. Tali started drinking and avoiding Ritana a little.

So Ritana started spending a lot of time by her self. She had many misadventures.

She would entertain herself, and that usually meant exploring. Ritana ended up finding trouble most of the time.

Once she fought a shark, and won. It was a nasty one, bullying a dolphin, a hanora*, and terrorizing a certain path at specific times. It was a bull shark. They were known for being nasty. Even if it wasn't all of them, there were so many incidents that wrecked it for the well behaved.

Another time, Ritana got attacked by a barracuda, nastiest fish in the sea, none of them ever proved themselves worthy of redemption, and they took every opportunity to cause chaos and harm. Orcas are nicer, and they play with their food and kill for fun. Anyways, this managed to happen after she convinced a Great White to move, because he was scaring the village he was by. The barracuda almost got her, but Tali arrived and saved her. Tali was not happy.

Ritana still went out many other times, sometimes even playing with dolphins. Ritana could understand some of the undersea creatures- Dolphins, sharks, barracuda, most magical creatures and various species of fish, luckily none that were food...except crabs, and lobsters. It concerned Tali, but Rita could never figure out why.

No matter what, Ritan went out... a lot. Her childhood was not an average one, even by Talian standards.

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***hanora-a water dwelling person who has webbed hands and toes and gills. Usually green, blue and occasionally skin color or albino.**

**Yes, I know they are short, that is why I give two...that and because it has been a while...**

**I will try to working on that, but I do have a life.**

**Questions, comments or concerns? Review them all, please.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, I'm back! The Legend will be a little different from this chapter on.**

**Bold is still Atlantian translated into English, but italics will be a little different... I won't reveal exactly what is translated into English until the very end though, because telling now would be a spoiler.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Hetalia. I still claim my OCs and their related Nation.**

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Rita was left alone yet again. Atlanti had etiquette lessons with Tali, and they had a party to plan, because Atlanti was officially turning five in about a week.

Usually, Rita would be happy, because Tali would celebrate Rita's birthday with Atlanti's, but Tali had told Rita earlier that day that they needed to celebrate Rita's birthday on her actual birthday. The only problem with that was no one knew when it was.

So, Rita decided to go exploring. She went off in a random direction, away from the one Tali and Atlanti went towards, and swam.

She kept going until she was in the middle of a meadow, there was sea grass growing on the bottom, it was framed by coral, there was a cave with a sign on it at one end.

Rita chose to swim towards it. She tried to read the sign, but Tali had somewhat stopped her reading lessons by spending less time with her, so she didn't understand it. Not wasting any time, she swam into the cave, unaware the sign was warning passers-by of danger.

It was a short cave, which dropped straight down after you got to the end, then turned straight out again and led to a large cave.

Upon entering the large cave, Rita froze, because in the middle of the cave was a dragon. It was white, like sea foam, and had dark blue whiskers. It was like a snake, or an eel-long and slender- but the dragon also had some elegance in its face. The blue parts of the dragon were a rich blue, and they accented the dragons form to add to its natural beauty.

Rita, having heard stories about dragons from her mother, was naturally scared. All the stories were about the ferocity and dangerousness of the dragon kind. None of them painted dragons very well.

But Rita was also curious. She didn't know if her mom really knew or not. Rita had stopped taking her mom's word at face value ever since she got scolded for getting attacked by a barracuda. To be fair, it wasn't entirely her fault that her good deed led her to be where the evil fish was at the wrong time. Granted the Good deed was getting a shark and an octopus to resolve things peacefully. If they fought they could have blocked the passage way they were in, and if the shark went into a feeding frenzy, he could have harmed passersby and made Atlantian-Shark relations impossible. Same for the octopus, if he had taken things too far, it could have spiraled badly on his end as well, though maybe not as much as the shark's mistake would have.

Deciding not to take the risk anyways, Rita turned to leave. She figured that she could just watch the dragon from afar later. That way she could get her answer and not do something stupid. That plan might have worked, but the dragon started to stir.

Rita froze, and tried to back away slowly, hoping that the dragon wouldn't see her. She kept herself as small as possible and wiggled as carefully as she could to the opening.

The dragon stretched to the ceiling, making Rita feel even smaller than before, and she froze. This however was not enough, because the dragon saw her anyways.

"_What do you think you are doing?_" the dragon shout-whispered in outrage.

"_I'm sorry! I was out exploring, and I decided to go into the cave-_"

"_Didn't you see the sign?_"

"_I can't read. My mom stopped teaching me."_ At this the dragon paused. Not only did this send up a small red flag, but the little girl could also understand her, which was strange because, at the moment, they were speaking the dragon language. However, the dragon decided to keep this to herself, for the girl probably already knew.

"_Does your mother hurt you?_" The dragon decided to ask.

"_No, she would have to be around me more often to do that. She is usually training Atlanti to be proper and stuff._"

"_Your mother is Talisa?_"

"_Yes, she is. Usually she goes by Tali though._"

"_I would have thought that a daughter of Tali would have hated dragons..._" And not known dragon speak.

"_I don't take everything she says at face value. She isn't always right. I do follow all her rules though, mostly so I can't get in trouble for it. It doesn't really work, and occasionally, I create a new rule._"

"_You must be Ritana, right?_"

"_Yep, I go by Rita though. Atlanti gave me the nickname._" Rita knew her mom was well known. But, she just knew that Tali worked for important people, not that she was the Nata of Talisa, nor that Atlanti and herself where in fact natas.

"_When your mother is near you, has she ever hurt you?_"

Rita takes a clip out of her hair, revealing a strand of hair in her bangs that was oddly curled.

"_I cut it off once, because I can feel it-which is why I clip it, so it doesn't get caught in anything. But it hurt a lot. Mom was mad, but she didn't touch me, she just sent me to bed and started drinking. It grew back overnight. Mom was still drinking when I woke up. She was so drunk; she half yanked it off, and then passed out. When she woke up, I was crying because it hurt, way more than before. She managed to calm me down enough that she could cut it off properly. It grew back the night following the next. After that is when she really started avoiding me._"

"_Rita-_"

"_It's okay though, because I get to go exploring a lot._" The dragon paused.

"_My name is Kaji._" The dragon said.

"_Thank you-for letting me know your name._" Neither spoke, as Kaji decided to tell Rita something very important, information that she was sure Rita was never told.

"_Rita, I think you need to know something._" Rita looked at the dragons face.

"_When the earth was young, it decided to make itself company. To walk upon itself, it placed a seed of hope from its soul into a flower. From the flower, Gaia was born. She created all the animals, but she longed for company like herself. So Gaia made people like her. Like the Olympians. They slowly forgot her as they dealt with themselves. In response, Gaia gave them problems. But only to the ones who completely forgot her._" Rita had heard the story many times before, it was the story of how the world was made, though this version was very summary like. Rita decided to show that she did know something.

"_And then she made mortal people. But the Olympians mostly forgot about her, and the others didn't tell the mortals they ruled about her, right? Mom never told me the rest of the story...she always got cut off somehow..._" This confirmed what Kaji thought.

"_Gaia created a race of people; ones more like her, so she could keep track of the mortals. They were representatives of the land, of different cultures of people. They were the natas. They personified the mortals, and they used to know Gaia very well, but she got busy, and now she has other jobs, but she does check on them even if they don't know it._"

"_I met her once, but it feels like a long time ago. I haven't seen her since then._"

"_The legend is very real, at least the part about the natas._"

"_Really?_" It was a novel idea to Rita.

"_Yes. Your mother is the Nata of Talisa. You and your sister are also natas, representing the different parts of Talisa._"

"_That can't be true..._" Rita replied in disbelief. Her mother had her pretend it was true, why wouldn't she have told Rita about it actually being true?

"_Child, tell me, what do you know of your parents? I know you met your mother after your island sunk._"

"_I don't have any, well, not until Tali took me in. I was always watched by warriors on the island. But that doesn't prove anything. I still can't remember some things._"

"_It would explain why your mother is conducting herself the way she is._"

"_What does conducting mean?_"

"_Conducting ones self is how you are making yourself act, or allowing yourself to act._"

"_Oh, how so?_"

"_Well, the closer a nata is to their responsibilities; the more they are affected by what the people do. By keeping you unaware, she was keeping you safe. She loves you as a daughter, but there is much recent ill will towards the Ritan people. She was trying to make it so you felt none of it. But it must have gotten to strong for her to control, especially when she was drunk. That must have made her believe she had to stay away._"

"_That would make sense, but how do I know it's real?_"

"_Natas live as long as they are needed to by Gaia. They live longer than mortals, and age much differently. Some natas grow up fast, some grow up slow, but they all stop at an age, which one varies._"

"_How many years ago did Ritan sink? I was about a year younger, Atlanti definitely was, she is turning five soon, she was four when it happened. I don't know how old I am, but I am guessing almost five._"

"_It happened fifteen hundred and one years ago. I still don't know the years exactly, because everyone just had to change the year systems. If you don't believe me, you can try asking around. But I imagine that would be difficult, Tali never let you meet any of the other citizens, did she?_"

"_No, the only people I know are my family, Gaia, Poseidon, and you, but it's okay because I believe you._"

From that moment on, Kaji and Rita were friends. They were the closest they could be; it helped a bit that they didn't have many other friends. Kaji's disappeared after the dragon hunts had started, all agreeing that it would be safer that way, and Rita didn't really know anyone other then her family members.

Kaji started to teach Rita everything she could. Rita could already speak major creature languages, and unaware she was learning through the dragon one, she picked up quickly on any new languages Kaji taught her. Kaji didn't stop there though, and made sure Rita could read basic Atlantian, and started her on the other languages as well.

It went by so fast, that before they knew it, it was two days before Atlanti's birthday.

"_Rita, I don't know if you will be aloud to see me as much as you have, but if you need me call my name. I want you to have this journal. It's enchanted, and if you write to me, I will get the message. Only those who have been given permission to read what you have written will be able to see the words._"

"_What do they see if I don't give permission?_"

"_They see what they wish they hadn't, like bad words about them, or a plot to hurt them. Some even see just blank pages. You can enchant it to something if you wish._"

"_I can't do magic-_"

"_All natas have the capability, which gets stronger when they would have had magic, even if they weren't a nata. You will learn one day, but I would be honored to enchant it for you-_"

"_I give you permission to read the journal._" At this, Kaji paused.

"_What?_"

"_It's fair, I got the book from you, and you are going to enchant it, and you're my best friend._" Kaji decides not to argue and just goes with the Ritan's logic.

"_Very well, what do you wish for me to enchant it to?_"

"_Blank pages, but with random one words that confuse the reader. Like words that freak them out a little, but not enough for them to say anything. I wish for those one words to be on pages with writing._"

"_Ah, I get it. I seen a similar one before, except that on all the written pages it read 'fear me, you have violated my privacy, prepare for pranks' and I have also seen the spell for the bad mouthing and plots; it's a simple matter of combining the spells. I can do it. And I am honored you have given me permission. The spell will be done later today, I will send it to your room, magically, and you will be able to write in it then._"

Rita nods. She knew Kaji would need the alone time to cast the spell. Also, she had to go home soon anyways. She would be required to help with the party decorating the next day in preparation for the event the day after. At least, that is what she was told.

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**Yes, italics is translated dragon language, it will remain as such.**

**Questions, comments or concerns? please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I present to you another chapter.**

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Rita was upset, the party had been canceled and Atlanti was spending the whole day with Tali alone. She felt alone and ignored, the feeling intensified by the fact she knew she didn't have a birthday and that she already knew Kaji was away on a trip and very busy.

So Rita decided to go exploring. Atlanti's birthday was officially the next day, but Rita didn't want to deal with her family. She wandered very far from the areas she did know. And she kept going. Eventually she had reached land; it was present day America, though she didn't know it at the time.

She met Native America and many of the tribe representatives. She went across the continent very quickly with the aid of the older Natas. She never once worried about not being able to find her way home. Rita remembered the words Poseidon had told her when they had last spoken. He told her that she would always know where she was, land or water. She knew exactly which way to go.

So Rita found another ocean on the other side of the continent, and decided to cross that to. She found many small islands, though she stopped at none, and eventually she came to a mainland. It was a much larger island, she was sure, but Rita decided not to go any further.

On the Island, she found people she had never seen before. They seemed to have their eyes closed, but only part way. She thought they looked bored with what happened around them, and, as she knew she would never fit in, decided to turn around and go back home.

She could feel inside herself that she could go either onwards or back the way she came to get home. She decided not to press onwards because she was sure that she wouldn't be able to sneak by secretly.

Rita swam as quickly as she could, but was tiring so quickly that she made it as the sun set to the mainland. She fell asleep so quickly that she didn't have time to realize it was the wrong shore.

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Rita awoke in a bed. She shot up, very confused, before realizing her mistake- she was lower than where she wanted to be. This only calmed her down a little bit, but she still woke up in a random bed.

People walked into the room, dressed nicely, but in odd clothing. She was grateful for Kaji's lessons when they spoke, because it happened to be a language she knew. She still couldn't remember what it was called though.

"_**Child, who are you?**_" said the one who looked like they had a crown on. Rita was almost certain the person was male. She could sense the female (?) who was standing next to the...King... was a nation.

"_**I am a traveler, I am sorry that I have been such a burden. I was on my way home when I fell asleep, and I couldn't help it. I went the wrong way by accident because I was tired.**_"

"_**Child, what is your name and where do you come from? Kaza has stated you are one of her kind.**_" Rita almost panicked, but decided to go with what her mother had set up for her.

"_**What do you mean? And my name is Ritana. I come from the place of the same name. My mom adopted me a while ago, and she has the same name as her country too. She says that her parents were just very patriotic. Once she told me a story about her nation, and used herself in place of it. She said it was easier to tell the story if I pretended she was the nation. I think she just didn't want me to forget it though. Where am I anyways?**_"

"_**I am the ruler of the Incan Empire. I am Emperor Pachacuti.**_" Rita thought about it for a bit, and then spoke.

"_**Please, let me go. I will not return. I just want to go home.**_" The Emperor agreed, surprising Rita.

"_**Of course, Kaza and two guards will escort you. It isn't right to send a child off into the world all by herself.**_" Rita nodded, full well knowing that if they did try to go to her home, they would drown. All she really needed was to be let out to the ocean, any ocean, and she could make a quick getaway.

"_**Lead the way, child.**_" Kaza told her. Rita could tell the older looking nata probably thought Rita wouldn't lead them very far. In a way, they were right. But in another way, they were wrong. The trek to the ocean was tiresome, but nowhere near Rita's home.

The walk was very tiresome. Rita kept using her magic to shorten the distance, if only to get away faster. They reached the ocean quickly, and Rita's escorts were surprised when she dived in, didn't surface, and disappeared. They were just as shocked when the hike home took much longer then the half day it took for them to arrive.

Rita met Kaji halfway on her swim across the ocean. The Dragon magic-ed them to her lair, wondering what had happened to Rita. The girl had used up a lot of energy when she had magically made the land distance shorter.

Kaji never did find out what happened, nor did Rita tell anyone.

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**Bold italics is just other languages translated into English.**

**I did do some research to present to you this chapter. This would be right before the Spanish came and took over everything.**

**Comments, questions, concerns? please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I present another chapter, you already know I do not own Hetalia.**

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The very next day, Rita had to rush off to her home, because she slept the night in Kaji's cave. Rita was very lucky that, for whatever reason, Tali was too busy to notice she didn't come home, and Atlanti was still passed out from whatever they did the day before.

Rita managed to get to the kitchen to start making herself breakfast-nothing special, just a bowl of kia*- and managed to sit down with her completed meal as her mother and a very sleepy Atlanti walked in.

"**Oh, there you are.**" Tali said to her. Then she noticed the berries. "**You can't just eat that for breakfast. And I thought those were bad for you anyways.**"

"**No, it's just the black ones that kill you; the brown ones make you sick. The colorful ones do weird things, and the white ones just give energy, so they are safe to eat.**" Rita replied.

"**You just ate a blue one.**" Atlanti noticed. Rita paused. She couldn't remember what they did...now she's hoping that it isn't amnesia...

'_Lets see, purple is invisibility, pink makes you little or big-the opposite of what you were, red switches your gender for the other, green lets you shape-shift, yellow makes you glow, white gives relatively normal energy boosts and blue...does something else. Wait, its affect hasn't really been found...well crud_.'

But nothing happened. Well, nothing they could notice.

Everything was normal, for a while, but Rita noticed something different about Atlanti. Atlanti was breaking the rules. She never even tried before, but now she was openly breaking rules. Even worse, she never got in trouble.

It started with small things, painting on the walls or staying out a bit past curfew. But it got to a point where the only real rule left for her to break was the biggest one. (The only rules she didn't bother with were the ones specifically made for Rita, like not breaking up fights between creatures and going to get someone else to do it... Usually she goes to Kaji because her mother would probably kill them both and she knew no one else.)

Atlanti wanted to go to the surface. Both girls had been explicitly told not to ever go back there after Atlanti's birthday. She managed to convince Rita to go with her to the beach- still in the water though.

"**Come on Rita. We're already here; why not just see what it's like? We don't have to stay long...**" Atlanti told her.

"**No, that is mom's biggest rule. I get in enough trouble when I'm not breaking any rules. We are not going up there.**" Rita held firm, like she had been for the past half-hour.

"**Fine,**" Atlanti finally relented, "**Let's go home then.**"

Relived, Rita nodded and turned to swim away. She turned to comment to her sister-who was behind her- and realized that Atlanti was swimming the opposite way...to the shore.

"**Hey, stop!**" Rita shouted at her sister. Instead of stopping, Atlanti swam faster.

The chase was on. Rita was slowly gaining on her, and almost had her when Atlanti left the ocean. So Rita stopped.

"**What, are you not going to stop me?**" And then Atlanti left.

Rita worried for her sister, Poseidon had told her that her sibling would, like her, be able to find her way home from anywhere in the ocean, but, unlike Rita, Atlanti would not have the same ability on land. He never explained why.

And Rita also knew that she wouldn't be able to tell Tali, because she knew that somehow, her mother would blame her. Rita couldn't get Kaji because Atlanti would surly tell Tali and Tali would insist that Kaji die. That was assuming Kaji could help, she was a water dragon after all.

So Rita found an empty nearby cave to ponder her problem in. She ended up worrying herself to sleep.

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***kia is a type of underwater berry, slightly magical. It comes in many different colors and is poisonous to some in any color.**

**Comments, questions, concerns? then review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**And the story continues.**

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Rita awoke some odd hours later, and –after pondering for what felt like at least another hour- she decided that, rule or not, she was going to drag her sister back-even if it got her in trouble.

She swam out of the cave with purpose. She didn't know exactly where her sister was, but Rita felt that she could find her. Like the pull toward home, she felt a similar pull towards her sister. (She didn't know it, but she cast the first silent locater spell.)

As she got to the shore, she heard a loud splash in front of her. Rita could tell that her sister was among the figures, but she hung back, because she didn't know who the others were.

Instead, Rita swam down, and positioned herself to be directly under Atlanti and the other blob. Rita willed herself to be able to swim faster, and her legs felt a bit funny, but she ignored them. Waiting, Rita heard sounds of fun echo down to where she was.

This made her a little peeved. She had worried herself to sleep and Atlanti had been having the time of her life playing with the other blob.

Deciding to scare her sister, she swam straight at her, crashed her into an impromptu hug, and fell back into the sea. Rita had gotten enough speed to get some serious air. She let go of Atlanti when they were submerged and took to glaring at her.

"**What is wrong with you? You can't just take people like that!**" Atlanti yelled at Rita.

"**You are the one who ran off on me **_**yesterday**_** and kept breaking the rules.**" Rita said in a deadly calm manner, a tone that seemed to escape Atlanti.

"**Well, anyways, you can come and meet her. In all honesty, I had a dream that I needed to meet a surface person, and I did, and all my rule breaking was to make sure mom didn't kill me. Besides, you break rules all the time.**"

"**No, I don't. Mom just makes new rules based on things I've done that she decided not to like.**" Atlanti started to drag Rita toward the surface.

"**Come on, just meet my friend. You won't be breaking the rule because you will still be in the ocean.**" Rita chose to just go along with it. She looked down at her legs instead.

She found a blue tail instead. She assumed that Atlanti was just to preoccupied to notice. Rita willed the tail away, and willed her bottoms (she had been wearing a short skirt and longer black pants) to become a log blue skirt and leg-length black pants. She was only a little surprised that it worked, and was more relived that Atlanti hadn't noticed the sudden extra weight.

Atlanti surfaced a little ways away from the blob- apparently a little girl with a weird curl on the side of her head- not that Rita could talk since she was just hiding hers.

"Hey, sorry, my sister just thought it would make sense to ambush me-"

"I was worried about you. You made me worry myself to sleep, you are luck trying to scare you is all I did. I decide to go find you and find you playing." Rita knew they were no longer speaking in Atlantian. She couldn't quite remember what Kaji said the language was called, or of it was one that Tali had the girls know a bit of. Rita ignored the slight surprise on her sister's face- it was probably at the fact that she could speak the language.

"Hello, I'm Italia." Rita knew that her sister had managed to befriend another Nata.

"Hello, I'm Rita. I am sorry for having to take Atlanti away, but mother is probably very worried about her." Rita had no illusions, she knew that Tali wouldn't worry about her because this is the same girl who had successfully fought a bull shark, and won.

Eventually, she managed to convince Atlanti that it was time to go home, but it was too late.

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**Comments, Questions, concerns?**


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